One reason SMU has never made sense in the ACC is that its facilities and history pale in comparison to what a major conference can technically offer.

These fears became reality when the Mustangs opened their first-ever conference game in a less-than-capacity crowd with room for only 32,000 people. To enter, Eric Dickerson rode on the back of a Mustang sports car while a pony, which looked like a stuffed animal, sprinted onto the field in front of him. It was uncompetitive and sticky, but it made sense for a desperate team coming into the conference in free agency.

Yet somehow Florida State has taken pathetic to a new level. They played like a no-business team at the top of college football. Instead of bullying the new congressman, the Seminoles hit a new low Saturday night after suffering their worst loss of a season that was already in the gutter.

Winning is contagious, but so is losing, and the rot in the locker room is great.

Some forget that FSU was only down by half and got the kick to start the third quarter. The pieces for a comeback, or at least a game, were in place.

Fans should have known better.

On the second play of the quarter, Kyle Morlock dropped a wide-open pass that went straight into the hands of an SMU player for DJ Uiagalelei’s second interception of the game. Three plays later the Mustangs found the end zone.

In response, on the next drive, the offense committed two drops and two holding penalties in five plays for a virtual three-and-out.

The defense continued to collapse, somehow giving up a touchdown in six plays as SMU committed 20 yards in penalties. Everything they did well last week deteriorated on Saturday. If that didn’t sum up the stop from Adam Fuller’s unit, SMU scored a touchdown on the next drive with yards gained only on the ground or through penalties. For the fourth time in five games, a team lined up, punched FSU in the mouth, and the Seminoles did nothing about it.

The stats paint an even bleaker picture of the gruesome execution: 10 penalties, three interceptions, three fumbles, 3-for-12 on third down and just 25 minutes of possession. While Uiagalelei threw multiple touchdown passes for the first time this year, he threw an inefficient 12 of 30 for just 222 yards.

Should I continue?

The worst part is that veterans made the mistakes, not the young players who need to be released. Kyle Morlock made the interception in the second half. Lawrance Toafili missed the block at third base and goal. Darion Williamson committed the 15-yard facemask penalty, taking over from Byron Turner for the dumbest foul of the season. Tonight proved what many did not want to believe: the problems are not only with Uiagalelei. While Mike Norvell seems broken by the criticism, so are the rest of the older players.

Speaking of Norvell, what’s going on?

His play calling stinks. He used two timeouts because his team wasn’t ready, he had no creativity and no answers. At his post-match press conference, he seemed teary-eyed from my point of view, but instead of expressing his emotions, he returned to his usual coach answers.

“It’s extremely disappointing. It’s embarrassing. Ultimately, as a football program, we have to make a choice about what we’re going to look like when we get out there.

Isn’t he the one running the football program?

“This program means a lot to the guys in that locker room. Unfortunately, we don’t represent that very well, but we are going to fight to get better.”

Can he give a specific example?

He came out dazed and confused for the second time in a row, somehow surprised by his team’s struggles. To those outside the program, these would be understandable feelings, except he oversees the team. He’s now being paid $10 million to find solutions, not to sound like the boy who cried wolf. His statements are getting old and his messages are falling on deaf ears. Nine months ago, every fan jumped on the Norvell bandwagon, believing he would be the answer to sticking it to the CFP committee and becoming the next great FSU ball coach. Although he is only 42 and will be around long enough to turn this tide, he has undeniably made a mess of things.

Norvell could trademark the word “response” in how often he used it during his tenure, but when his team needed it, no one grabbed it. He built a roster with zero leaders who, when adversity strikes, freshmen are thrust into the role. His team shut down Saturday, a sign of a broken locker room, and as they jogged off the field no one showed any visible emotion, except that some of the younger players were good sports, lending their appeal to the few remaining Seminole kids in the competition. stands. It’s been the same on-field issues (turnovers, third downs and penalties) and off-field issues (leadership and emotion) for five weeks, yet he acts as if these are new concepts.

The only new thing about Saturday was FSU finding different ways to embarrass, ruin and shut down the program.

Three thoughts:

1. Turning the ball over like it’s going out of style

What makes this season so baffling is that the issues didn’t occur during Norvell’s tenure before 2024. Each season, Jordan Travis steadily improved his ball security and threw just three interceptions in 2023.

On Saturday, Uiagalelei pushed his interception total to six, just one behind the seven he threw all last year at Oregon State, and his fourth straight game throwing the ball to the other team. His pick six sealed the fate of one of the worst nights in recent FSU history when his internal clock refused to go off on time. Of course, some of these aren’t his; the fumble he miraculously recovered is undoubtedly that. Two other Seminoles put the ball on the turf tonight and showed a lack of care for it, as well as their disregard for everything else. Along with three fumbles, Williamson’s penalty won’t go into the stats as a turnover, but it should. Half of SMU’s points came from giveaways tonight as the Seminoles teamed with the Mustangs to secure their victory.

Fuller’s defense took a step back in every category tonight, including their sudden change in defense, which on several occasions allowed SMU to score two touchdowns in less than two minutes following a Uiagalelei interception. The lack of ball security ultimately returns to Norvell in the increasingly long list of mistakes he has made this season. Not surprisingly, Florida State does everything bad teams do, and the turnover problem only gets worse as the year goes on.

2. Young Player Report

While the veterans made mistakes left and right, the underclassmen tried to catch up as best they could. Even though Edwin Joseph wasn’t playing at his best, Norvell allowed him to carry the sledgehammer into the stadium. After Morlock gave himself an edge for the worst drop of the season, Norvell gave more playing time to Landen Thomas. Although Thomas was called for a stoppage on his first play in the second half, he later responded with FSU’s second touchdown of the game, making a nice grab on a back-shoulder throw into the end zone.

Brock Glenn also made his debut in 2024, and while things didn’t go as planned with an 0-for-4 performance, he may get more practice reps this week after Uiagalelei suffered a finger injury, which Norvell reported after the game. Most of these young guys are better than the veterans ahead of them, and with the team turning the page to 2025, Norvell needs to do everything he can to make them happy so they return next season.

3. Defensive disaster

Because of how poorly the offense started the season, its execution in the first half, primarily through the air, looked more streamlined than at any point in the year.

But what happened to the defense?

On the game’s first drive, SMU marched down the field in 11 plays for 75 yards and a touchdown while converting 3-of-3 on third downs. Later in the first half, Shyheim Brown bit hard on a flea flicker, leading to the second Mustang touchdown of the half. The defense continued to release players as Jake Bailey hauled in a 39-yard pass with no one around him before Brown made up for his earlier mistake with a blocked field goal.

For the second week in a row, the Seminoles allowed more than 400 yards of total offense, but this time Florida State didn’t produce an explosive defensive play to counter. The defensive line recorded just two sacks through the first three quarters as this past week feels more and more like a fluke. The Mustangs ran for over 200 yards on 51 attempts as Brashard Smith tore them to pieces, which Jadyn Ott surprisingly couldn’t do. Smith produced runs of 20, 17, 13 and 16 yards as SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee masterfully found ways to create chunk plays against this defense.

At least during training during the week these guys talk to each other, but on Saturday they fell flat. They tried to play defense without effort or energy, continually allowing ball carriers to get out or win contested catches, and paid the price.